The Anti-Corruption Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has thrown its weight behind the decision of Nigeria’s Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, to probe a property controversy in the United Kingdom involving a popular lawyer, Mike Ozekhome, among other Nigerians.
The committee said the case raises several “improper critical issues that require investigations on the authenticity of the judgment that is widely in circulation.”
It also called for scrutiny of the actions of legal practitioners on the role of the Supreme Court of Nigeria mentioned in the proceedings.
Backstory
In September, English property tribunal judge, Ewan Paton, stopped Mr Ozekhome, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), from taking ownership of a house in North London.
Mr Paton also struck out Mr Ozekhome’s claims as an abuse of judicial process.
In the case REF/2023/0155, Tali Shani was the applicant while Mr Ozekhome was the respondent over a property at 79 Randall Avenue, London NW2 7SX.
Mr Paton said the UK First-Tier Tribunal Property Chamber Land Registration case was built on “a network of fraud, impersonation, and forged documents.”
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Judge Paton concluded that the late Lt. General Jeremiah Useni had acquired the property through questionable means, using a name similar to the one in the £1.9 million case decided at the Royal Court of Jersey in Attorney-General v. Useni in 2022.
He found that Mr Ozekhome’s defence, supported by his son, was “a contrived story… invented in an attempt to provide a plausible reason” for the 2021 property transfer. While blocking Mr Ozekhome, the judge also struck out the adversary’s claims as an abuse of judicial process.
AG’s planned intervention
On Monday, at the ceremony marking the beginning of the 2025/2026 legal year and the conferment of SAN status on 57 lawyers, Mr Fagbemi, also SAN, said the London case had significant implications for the Nigerian legal sector.
The country’s chief law officer then announced that a probe had been launched and appealed for “the cooperation of the NBA and the Body of Senior Advocates” to verify the authenticity of the complaints and refer erring practitioners to the necessary disciplinary bodies.
NBA’s committee’s support
In a statement dated 2 October and signed by its chairperson, Babafemi Badejo, a professor, the NBA Anti-Corruption Committee welcomed the AGF’s decision.
The statement reads in part; “Investigations into the processes that resulted in the alleged procurement of fake NIN, fraudulent presentation of an MTN number, fake ECOWAS passport, etc., all aimed at the failed creation of fake male and female persons claiming to be Tali Shani, should lead to the criminal prosecution of civil servants who connived with lawyers to tarnish the name of Nigeria”.
The committee also urged the AGF to enter Nigeria’s interest in the property for possible restitution, noting that many high-profile cases had been swept under the carpet once media attention faded and “hoped that such would not be the case this time, as the credibility and sustainability of the legal sector in Nigeria are at stake.”
It also said it “hopes that after investigations, the relevant legal practitioners would be promptly referred to the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC).”
Therefore, the Anti-Corruption team recommended that the Alternate Chairman of the NBA Anti-Corruption Committee, George Ekpungu, and the Chairman of the Ikorodu Branch of NBA, Mr Bayo Akinlade, be included in the AGF’s investigations.
